Lanzer`s off-range musings

PPQ Red Dot Mount on the cheap

Recently added a Burris Fastfire on my 1911, and I noticed that the 1911 adapter plate actually fit the top of the PPQ pretty well. Well? It’s time to make a dovetail mount for the Fastfire adapter plate!

First, the mounting plate

You can get one from Burris for $45, or grab one from Amazon or Ebay for $20. Just search for “1911 std Slide Mount Base for Red Dot“. You’ll want one that has the dovetail near the back. It’s called the “Standard 1911” sight, NOT the “1911 Novak” type.

The down side to the cheap mount is that the mounting screw for the red dot scope is very short. It barely grabs onto the mounting plate and very easy to strip. I suggest getting longer ones, adding 5 bucks to the budget. (look for #6-40 flat screws)

Update: The newer 1911 mounts comes with two sets of mounting screws that are longer than the old model. Don’t need to buy extra screws anymore!

Time for the fun part.

I bought a steel bar from Home Depot for a completely different project, and the left over piece was perfect for the dovetail. It’s technically not shaped like a dovetail but I dunno what to call it. 🙂

The CNC mill makes the job easy. An hour later we have our finished piece

The two holes need to be threaded at #4-48, which is an uncommon size. Have to grab a tap, an extra few bucks.

After milling the back side, the dovetail fits perfectly. The dimension is pretty straight forward, the only tricky part is the height, which should be about 0.145″

When mounted, the plate sits on the outer edges of the slide, which is exactly where I want it to sit. There’s a 0.2mm clearance on the top.

The plate sticks out a little bit at the back, the burris plate will sit 1/16 inch forward.

All done! $30 later, I’m ready to shoot with the Fastfire!

I drew the dimension of the dovetail out on a napkin, I’ll clean it up and post it later.

Hope you find this useful. I plan to make a whole bunch of dovetails since I have more barstock left. Feel free to contact me if you want to buy one. 🙂

I just sold my recent batch of mounts, and it will take about two weeks to make more. I’m in Japan right now so that’ll add another week on top of that. If you’re okay with waiting, the base and dovetail will cost $40 with $5 shipping. You can email me at lanzer @ gmail.com if interested.